Kimi’s Playground

Stewart Bell caught up with the former world champion to find out how a typical Grand Prix weekend at Spa pans out

Belgium’s mighty Spa-Francorchamps circuit is considered to be the best on the current Formula One calendar – a 7km blast through the Ardennes forest. Its unique combination of unforgiving corners is the stuff that, since the Twenties, has separated the men from the boys – especially when you add to the mix the unpredictable weather that the region is famous for.

Just as tough and unforgiving (on the racing line, anyway) is Finnish racing star Kimi Räikkönen. The 2007 F1 world champion is considered a Spa specialist, and he has won the race four times, for top squads McLaren (2004 and 2005) and Ferrari (2007 and 2009). A fifth win this month – with the backing of the Lotus F1 Team – would draw him level with the late, great Ayrton Senna’s tally on this circuit. Räikkönen is certainly up for the challenge, but there’s much work to be done in the 72 hours leading up to the start of this race.

T­?24: Saturday Qualifying

Räikkönen is back at the circuit at 9am for a final free practice session (FP3) at 11am. A qualifying session at 2pm will follow.

This final practice session is all-important, as the team begins to verify all the tyre and performance data that’s been collected since Friday. At this point Räikkönen will start to push for faster times, gradually working his way into a zone where he readies himself for the afternoon’s qualifying lap. It’s a session in which he’ll need to go ? at out to make it count.

“There is no such thing as a perfect lap, [it exists] only in dreams,” says the Finn. “You can get a great lap without any mistakes, but you can always improve it, believe me.”

In order to get fired up, just before he heads out for that crucial qualifying lap, he spends some time listening to music in a private room located behind the team’s garage.

“I like the music the Finns play,” he says, when asked on the tunes he’s got in his playlist. “I also like Linkin Park. I think they’re cool.”

After qualifying, all of the drivers will face the world’s media to talk about their session, with the top three then sent to the of­fcial FIA press conference. To keep the sponsors happy, Räikkönen and his French teammate Romain Grosjean will also make a short appearance at the ultra-exclusive Formula One Paddock Club to meet with SVIPs – without a doubt, meeting and greeting these sponsors and their guests is what keeps the money rolling in.

At 7pm, after another long day – roughly 10 hours if there are no issues or more FIA stewards to see – Räikkönen will leave the circuit, Sunday’s race firmly on his mind.

T­-4.5: Sunday Race Day

Sunday morning arrives, and Räikkönen gets to the circuit – having already checked out of his hotel room in anticipation of his ? fight home after the race – at 9.30am. He’s got a heavy workload to get through before the ­five lights go out: meetings, meetings and more meetings, as the team prepares for war out on the track starting at 2pm.

In 2013, the focus will be on a ­fifth win, but Räikkönen knows not to rely on his past laurels.

“Usually I’ve achieved good results here, but what has happened before doesn’t help me right now,” he says. “I have stood in the middle of the podium a few times, and I want to be there again.”

It is Räikkönen’s playground, however. And if the team gives him a car capable of winning it, the odds are stacked in his favour.

Finnish fling

What was your first car, and what do you have in the garage these days? It was a used Lada – I had good fun with it. I haven’t got the [Ferarri] Enzo anymore, but I have a nice Lotus Evoras S now. It’s a really good compromise.

What’s with your helmet design? There’s the ­ in red, as that’s my number in the championship. But the helmet design is just a design. It doesn’t symbolize anything special.

What do you do for fun away from F?1? I like a lot of things: All kinds of sports and games where there is an element of competition. Ice hockey is my current favourite.